ARSCliSys Research Group

The ARSCliSys Research Group investigates modern satellite-based methods for remote sensing of the atmosphere and the climate system as well as ground-based methods with very high resolution and uses them for climate research. How strong is global warming already today and how will it evolve in the future? How does it affect the alpine region, Austria, Styria, for example related to weather and climate extremes?

A particularly suited method to help answer questions like this with a worldwide view is the occultation technique based on signals from global navigation satellites (GPS, Galileo) or Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. ARSCliSys stands amongst the leading groups internationally in the research on and utilization of this type of methods. In the alpine region as a specific focus area the WegenerNet is a pioneering experiment of the group: it comprises novel climate station networks in Eastern and Upper Styria/Austria for observing weather and climate at 1 km-scale resolution.

Satellite data and ground-based data are used together with climate model simulations for the study of climate variability, trends, and weather and climate extremes. The focus interests in this work are diagnosing global climate change, climate model validation and improvement, and bridging to regional and local climate and environmental change research, especially in the Alpine region.

ARSCliSys tightly cooperates with Regionl Climate research group on WEGC's joint research focus Hydrological Extremes in a Changing Climate (HydExClim). The group also strongly collaborates with the Institute for Geophysics, Astrophysics, and Meteorology/Institute of Physics (IGAM/IP), WEGC's key partner institute at the natural sciences side, being part of the Atmosphere and Climate Physics Working Group at IGAM/IP. Furthermore, ARSCliSys collaborates in Graz and at national and international levels with many renowed partners and partner groups and actively contributes in its research area to the framing of the international research agenda.